Ahead of MasterVoices’ October 2024 production of STRIKE UP THE BAND, Laurence Maslon and Ted Sperling — who penned a new version of the book — discussed the show and its timeliness.
Maslon: Greetings, Ted. It’s thrilling for musical theater fans that you and MasterVoices have gotten around to tackling the final jewel in the Triple Crown of the Gershwins/Kaufman/Ryskind political musicals, Strike Up the Band (although it’s chronologically the first). Why now?
Sperling: I’m excited, too, Larry! And thank you for helping us realize our dream for this show. Because we have to program our season a year in advance, it always takes a bit of crystal ball gazing to predict what will resonate when the concerts happen, but I think you and our audience will agree that the topics satirized in this piece couldn’t be more on point for today. With a tense election just days away, I had a feeling we would all be grateful for a good laugh, some tap dancing and some gorgeous melodies.
Maslon: In 1927, when George S. Kaufman was asked by the producer, Edgar Selwyn, to team-up with the Gershwins to write an anti-war satire, he was only about a decade into his career as a comic playwright. He’d already had a few successes collaborating with Marc Connelly and was fresh off a huge smash, The Cocoanuts, the first real narrative Marx Brothers vehicle (score by Irving Berlin). A year after Strike Up the Band, he’d write Animal Crackers; I think he had the merry Marxes on the brain when he wrote this show.
Sperling: And I think working with Kaufman inspired Ira to draw inspiration from his childhood idol, W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, in crafting an operetta that pokes fun at almost everyone. The extended musicalized scenes combine multiple musical themes and textures, and I imagine George was set loose in a way that he found exciting after the more conventionally structured Lady be Good and Oh! Kay.
Maslon: This show opened for an out-of-town tryout in Philadelphia, right after Labor Day, 1927 and got good reviews. But I gather they didn’t immediately translate into ticket sales and the show closed out-of-town. This led to an oft-quoted remark by Kaufman—“Satire is what closes on Saturday night”—although, of course, many of his other satires play on Saturday nights all over the globe.
Sperling: This show must have felt quite strange to those Philadelphia audiences. It’s even strange today! The music is clearly high class, but the 1927 script is quite pointed and at times scary, and I’m not sure people were ready to laugh at war so soon after World War I. It’s interesting that 1927 also brought us Show Boat a few months later, which tackled social issues in a very different way.
Maslon: In 1929, Selwyn, the producer, got the idea to revive the show, this time featuring a once-popular but now forsaken comedy team, Clark and McCullough, as the prime engine of the show’s lunacy. Kaufman, who was busy teaming up with the young Moss Hart, graciously turned the satirical reins over to another collaborator, Morrie Ryskind, and let him adapt the show any way he chose (they had written Animal Crackers together). Ryskind said that, in essence, he had to rewrite War and Peace for the Three Stooges. The revision was the first show to open on Broadway in the fraught 1930s—but the version was the hit the previous one never became. Thoughts on that?
Sperling: Well, I bet having a star comedy team helped ticket sales. And with some time to reflect, the authors did make substantial changes. Famously, the war changed from being over cheese tariffs to being about chocolate—and also turned out to be a fever dream, not an actual war. The plot was very much simplified, and there were some hit songs added, particularly “Soon” and “I’ve Got a Crush on You.” “Soon” replaced “The Man I Love”, which had been cut from three previous Gershwin musicals and, as its own hit song, actually too familiar to be heard in a book show. “Soon” was based on a melody that already existed in the 1927 version, so tonight you’ll get to hear both songs, in a way.
Maslon: With this premiere version in concert tonight, I’ve been inspired to tap into that Marxist (no, not the writer of the Communist Manifesto) brainwave of Kaufman’s, bring forward the very best and most appropriate songs, and give a little—dare I used the word?—“motivation” for some of the wonderful hi-jinks put forth by Kaufman and Ryskind. What about you?
Sperling: We’ve tackled difficult shows before, like Babes in Toyland, Lady in the Dark and The Frogs. As we did with those diverse projects, I hope that by doing some careful tweaking, we can preserve the essence of what made Strike Up the Band unique and valuable, encouraging other artists and companies to mount it, either in concert or in a full production. I’ve so enjoyed collaborating with you on this new version, Larry…. Thank you for your great work, it’s really been a pleasure.
Maslon: Ditto. Okay, leader–-now you go and strike up the band!
